As electronic commerce and the information economy become more popular, it is important that all organizations, and particularly large organizations, have a presence on the Internet. Nowhere is this more important than in an organization's sales and marketing efforts. While marketing is important to all companies, it is particularly important to companies and organizations where the human channels are the main sales vehicle, such as those offering financial services, such as stocks, bonds, investments, insurance policies, annuities and the like.
It is important for these companies to maintain the personal relationship between the members of their sales force and their customers while taking advantage of the Internet. In addition to resolving channel cannibalization issues, many organizations are fighting the inertia of a sales force that may be uninformed or fearful of the Internet's impact on their job functions. Moreover, conventional methods for creating web pages are labor intensive and require specialized skill sets. These companies need a way to quickly provide an Internet presence for the members of the sales force to maintain the human personal contact to their current customers who may be increasingly embracing doing business in an impersonal manner over the Internet. These companies need a vehicle to quickly provide their sales force with a relevant presence on the Internet that complements, rather than competes, with the companies other Internet marketing initiatives.